NNOC-Texas Announces Stance Of "Support If Amended" For THA/TNA Staffing Bill

Too few nurses

I have been a registered nurse in Texas for 32 years and I'm writing because we all have patients, or will be patients ourselves, in Texas hospitals one day. I do not want to end up in one of our hospitals until we improve them.

I have worked locally in two hospitals where our main concern has been patient-to-nurse ratios. We RNs do not have time for our patients' needs when we have six to seven patients in a unit where we should have four to five.

Nurses complain among themselves daily about how many patients they have to care for. Many of us don't talk to management about our concerns because we fear retaliation for speaking up.

It seems that the money made from the patient is more important than us or their lives. Recently, in some local ERs, patients waiting to be admitted were moved up to floors and left in the hallways. This is not fair to the patient, the patient's family or the nurse, and it could be a direct HIPPA violation regarding patient privacy.

This is why my organization, the National Nurses Organizing Committee-Texas (NNOC-TX), introduced safe ratios legislation with real whistleblower protection for nurses. Please let your legislators know that you support HB 1498 and SB 1000, especially if you're a nurse. If we expect change, we as nurses must speak up, take a stand and unite to put patients before profits.
Roberta Weiss, RN

http://www.caller.com/news/2009/apr/16/letters/